1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,200 Good morning. Hey, it's good to see you guys. 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,000 I'm Cole. I'm lead pastor here at Frontier 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,840 Church. And, and you are stepping into 4 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:12,240 the middle of our sermon series on faith and work that we are 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,280 calling. Thank God it's Monday. 6 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:16,560 I, I know what you're thinking, man. 7 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,840 I, I can't wait to hear Cole's annual Mother's Day sermon, 8 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,760 which is not going to happen this morning and I don't have an 9 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,760 annual Mother's Day sermon. So I'm just preaching Bible this 10 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:30,080 morning. Mothers, we see you. 11 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,320 We think that you're awesome. But today we're focused on thank 12 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,120 God, it's Monday. I'm look so up until this point, 13 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,240 if you haven't been here the last couple weeks, our vision 14 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,800 for Christianity, faith and work has been entirely positive. 15 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,480 So a couple weeks ago we talked about being image bearers and 16 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:48,320 how that applies to the way that we do our work. 17 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:53,080 Last week Carlos talked about faith and work as a means of 18 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,640 mission in the workplace. So it's been almost entirely 19 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,280 positive that work is good. We should be passionate about 20 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,360 work. I'm pushing to the other side 21 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,520 this morning, though. OK, so the, the text this 22 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:08,440 morning and the focus of this morning is going to be on on 23 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,120 work and idolatry. So we are going to, we're going 24 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,320 to come face to face with the possibility that idolatry it is 25 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:18,240 possible. And so I'll explain our terms, 26 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,720 I'll give us clarity, and hopefully the Spirit gives you 27 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:22,880 revelation. And we are changed people this 28 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,520 morning because this it's just a great day to become more like 29 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:26,400 Jesus. Amen. 30 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:28,280 Amen. Let me pray and we'll jump in. 31 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:34,040 Heavenly Father. Yeah. 32 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,840 I just pray that you would. Yeah. 33 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:42,280 Lord, just grant me, grant me the freedom to be honest and 34 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,280 transparent and open about my own struggles with idolatry. 35 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,040 And I think that's why you've got me preaching the sermon, 36 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:59,640 Lord, is because if we look at the sliding spectrum and if we 37 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:04,640 look at work as laziness or work as idolatry, the one that I 38 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:06,760 struggle with, Lord, is idolatry. 39 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:11,520 And so this week has been a week of repenting for me and 40 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,200 receiving your forgiveness this week. 41 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,160 And yeah, I just pray that I would have the guts this morning 42 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:21,200 and that you would give me the courage this morning to be open 43 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,880 and honest about my own struggles with idolatry. 44 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:25,480 And I pray that you would also heal me through that. 45 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,640 And so in the precious name of Jesus, all God's people prayed. 46 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,080 Amen. Hey, Bonwell, you with me back 47 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,480 there? I was going to run slides from 48 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,040 my iPad and ain't working. All right, so I'll just point at 49 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:41,000 you throughout all of it. We got a great relationship. 50 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,720 We'll figure it out, right. Yeah. 51 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,920 So work and. Get this iPad out of here. 52 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:52,040 Work at Idolatry. There's a, there's a 53 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:56,080 conversation with my five year old daughter Della that I've, I, 54 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,080 I, I had it with her about six months ago. 55 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,520 And it's the type of conversation that I've, I was 56 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,760 fearing for a couple years. So one of the reasons why I was 57 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,200 fearing that conversation is because Della, I don't know if 58 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,680 you know her, she's amazing. She's she's my favorite, but she 59 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,720 is. Whoops. 60 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,200 That leaked out, didn't it? I love all my kids equally. 61 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,120 Dell is a hoot though, OK? And one of the reasons why she's 62 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,200 a hoot, because she is, is because she is. 63 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,240 Absolutely. She's the queen of Jesus Jukes, 64 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:28,560 which I think she got from me. If you don't know what Jesus 65 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,720 Jesus Duke is, it's the ability to randomly insert God or Jesus 66 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,080 into every conversation, even to the point where you get some eye 67 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:38,840 rolls, right? And so like, you know, some 68 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:41,360 dudes are talking football together and maybe one dude was 69 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:42,640 like, hey, did you see that touchdown? 70 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:44,480 They score. And you know, the Jesus Duke 71 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,560 dude says, have I told you about the real touchdown in life, the 72 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,320 crucifixion of right, That's a Jesus Juke where you got to Juke 73 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:53,920 the conversation into that? And Della, she's the queen of 74 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,600 Jesus Jukes. Like we I'll say something like, 75 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,400 man, nobody, nobody is better than me at baseball. 76 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:08,720 And Della will be like even God. I'll be like, OK, yeah, OK. 77 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,320 There's, there was 1 almighty who was better than me at, at 78 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,040 baseball, right? I'll be like, we'll be like 79 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,120 having dinner together and I'll be like, there's nothing I love 80 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,519 more than a steak cooked medium rare. 81 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,400 And she'll be like, do you love it more than you love God? 82 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,640 And so she'll just like Jukey in that direction. 83 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,880 She's, she does a great job synthesizing the faith with the 84 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:30,600 rest of life. And so because of that, there's 85 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,200 this conversation that I've been fearing that I, I knew that we 86 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,480 would have together. And we finally had it a couple 87 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,960 months ago. It was early in the morning. 88 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,120 We had the space heater on. So Della and I, we were curled 89 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,800 up around the space heater together and, and we were 90 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:45,600 reading and then the conversation came. 91 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:50,680 She, she looked at me with her beautiful bright blue eyes. 92 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,440 I think she fluttered her eyelashes. 93 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,920 I don't, I don't know if that's a detail that I'm remembering 94 00:04:57,920 --> 00:04:59,720 that wasn't true. I think she fluttered her 95 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:00,480 eyelashes. She. 96 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,400 Said hey dad, fluttered her. Eyelashes and then she said. 97 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:10,160 Do you love God more than you love me? 98 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:19,600 I was like, oh gosh, right. Like what would you say? 99 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:23,320 What would you say to that question? 100 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:25,560 You got those? Sweet blue eyes looking at you. 101 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,080 Would you say? Well, no Duff. 102 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:29,360 We'll look at the Bible, we're supposed. 103 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,160 To look right, dig into it. Send her to a room. 104 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:36,760 Come on, you didn't know that. Now what would you say to that? 105 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,960 Dad, do you love God more than you love me? 106 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,800 Fortunately for me, the week before I was reading a book by 107 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:48,000 Rosaria Butterfield. She's a genius, and she actually 108 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,440 tackled this exact same question with her kids in that book. 109 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:52,080 So I had something locked and loaded. 110 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:54,440 So it wasn't. Like I was just like came out of 111 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,400 nowhere. So she asks, Dad, do you love 112 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,640 God more than you love me? And I quote Rosaria Butterfield 113 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:06,560 and I and I say to her, sweetheart, when I love God more 114 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:12,400 than everybody else, it actually allows me to love everybody else 115 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:18,920 safely, safely. Fortunately for her, that was a 116 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,480 good enough adequate answer. She didn't press in any deeper 117 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,280 than that. And I think part of the reason 118 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:27,600 why is because, I mean, at five years old, how could you know? 119 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,280 The. How could you know the beauty of 120 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,760 and the freedom of having a father who at least aims at 121 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:41,840 loving God more than you? It's a it's a beautiful, it's a 122 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,920 beautiful thing. I think there's nothing. 123 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:46,640 OK, but I'm just going to say it. 124 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:52,800 I think there's nothing more hateful and spiteful that you 125 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:57,880 can do to a person than to idolize them, right? 126 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:00,800 There's nothing more hateful you can do. 127 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:03,880 Than elevating another human being to the place of God. 128 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:11,000 Because whatever you idolize, you will eventually demonize 129 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:14,040 that. That is a truth. 130 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:18,680 If if you expect somebody to give you something that only God 131 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,840 can give, that person is not going to meet your expectations. 132 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:26,480 And then you're going to demonize them and you're going 133 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,080 to be bitter towards them and resentful towards that person. 134 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,400 And so to love God more than anything else, even your own 135 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,520 kids, what it what it allows you to do is it, it allows you to 136 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:42,520 love everything, love Della without smothering her or 137 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,200 without controlling her or without manipulating her, 138 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:51,400 without needing her to step into a role that only God deserves to 139 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:53,960 be in. It allows me to to love her 140 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,880 without putting the terrible parental sin of putting a weight 141 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,040 on my children's shoulders that they were never meant to carry. 142 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,040 It's actually quite freeing. See, the good gifts of God, 143 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:10,720 whether we're talking spouses or kids or jobs, all of the good 144 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,600 gifts of God, they're like fireworks, right? 145 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:19,600 They're. Beautiful, gorgeous, meant to be 146 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,600 enjoyed. Like fireworks, if you hold on 147 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,840 to them too tightly, they'll blow up in your face. 148 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,880 And this is true of any idols, but it's particularly true of 149 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:38,559 our relationship with our work. Whatever work means to you, 150 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,679 whether you're employed, pre employed, unemployed, post 151 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:43,679 employed, right? Whether you're thinking about a 152 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,800 job, a vocation, being a stay at home home. 153 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,160 Maker. Maybe you're thinking just about 154 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,520 hobbies. Whatever your work is in this 155 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,400 lifetime, if you hold on to it too tightly, it will blow up in 156 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,880 your face. And if you love God more than 157 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:03,760 you love everything, if you love God more than you love work, you 158 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,000 know what that will do? It will allow you to love your 159 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,080 work safely. So if you're able, let's go 160 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,200 ahead and stand for the reading of the Word of God. 161 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,120 We're we're in Luke 12 this morning, verses 13 through 21, a 162 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,400 familiar parable. It's often called the rich fool 163 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:24,760 parable. Here's what happens. 164 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,400 Someone in the crowd says to Jesus, Hey, Jesus, tell my 165 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,520 brother to divide the inheritance with me. 166 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:40,160 But Jesus said to a man who made me a judge or arbitrator over 167 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,240 you. And he said to them, take care 168 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:48,280 and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life 169 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,440 does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. 170 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:53,240 And then he tells them a parable. 171 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,240 And then he told them a parable, saying, the land of a rich man 172 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,760 produced plentifully. That's good. 173 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:01,640 And the man thought to himself, what am I going to do? 174 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:03,480 For I have nowhere to store my crops. 175 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:05,760 And so he said, I know what I'll do. 176 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,720 I'm going to do this. I'll tear down my barns and I'll 177 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,360 build larger ones. And there I will store all my 178 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:16,160 grain and all my goods. It increases his quality of 179 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,520 living. And then I will say to my soul, 180 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:24,480 soul, you made it. You have everything you need 181 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,480 right here. You have ample goods laid up for 182 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:33,880 many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. 183 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:46,880 And then Jesus says, God said to him, Fool, fool, this night your 184 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:52,720 soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose 185 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,440 will they be? So is the one who lays up 186 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:02,760 treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. 187 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:10,280 You guys can have a seat. What D the poor guy do wrong? 188 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:13,640 I don't know if you know this about Jesus. 189 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:16,760 Jesus doesn't take name calling lightly. 190 00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:20,560 So Jesus doesn't just walk around calling people names. 191 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,520 And in this parable, what's he called this man? 192 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,840 Fool, what's? What's going wrong? 193 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:30,320 Let me start with a clarity bomb right up front. 194 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,400 OK, So what is idolatry? I've got a couple definitions of 195 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:34,000 them. Ben. 196 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,640 Here's the first one. Here's Martin Luther describing 197 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,760 idolatry. Luther says whatever your heart 198 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:43,760 clings to and relies upon, that is your God. 199 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,280 So for Luther, idolatry is anything that you're clinging to 200 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:48,840 that isn't God. Does that make sense? 201 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:51,480 Can I get thumbs up? Good. 202 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,320 Here's here's John Piper. Piper gives a similar 203 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:55,880 definition. Let's round it out just a little 204 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,320 bit. Piper goes on to say idolatry is 205 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,800 what you do when your heart is not satisfied for God. 206 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,280 So for Piper, an idol is something you try to seek 207 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,840 ultimate satisfaction from that isn't God. 208 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:10,800 Does that make sense? Give me thumbs up. 209 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:13,280 Good. So these are really important 210 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:15,040 definitions because I'm going to round it out here. 211 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:17,320 This is really important because it leads us to our last 212 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,360 definition, which comes from Tim Keller. 213 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,760 Actually, Jared, Uncle Tim to you actually doesn't sound 214 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:27,320 great, OK. Great Tim Keller says idols 215 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:36,760 aren't always bad things see that it's not just sin idols 216 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:43,200 aren't always bad things idols are often good things in bad 217 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:47,000 places putting a spouse. Which is a good thing in the 218 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,400 place of God. Putting a kid, putting your job, 219 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,560 putting your security, putting anything in the place of God 220 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,400 ends up with idolatry. So let me summarize for us 221 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,920 quick, really quickly. Idolatry is worshipping anything 222 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,600 instead of God. It's taking anything, good 223 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,800 things or bad things and putting them in the place of God. 224 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:10,000 Whenever that happens, the word that the Bible gives us is 225 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:11,640 idolatry. And so. 226 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:13,360 I don't want you to. Walk away from this morning 227 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:15,520 thinking that you're not allowed to be passionate about your 228 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:16,680 work. That will break my heart. 229 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:19,760 If you walked away from the sermon thinking, OK, I don't 230 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:23,680 want to commit idolatry so I better not enjoy my work at all 231 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,240 or I better not be passionate at all about my work. 232 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,200 That would break my heart. You're allowed to enjoy work. 233 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:32,240 You're allowed to be passionate about it. 234 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:36,360 You are and you should be. But what I want to protect you 235 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:42,440 from this morning is turning a good thing into a God thing. 236 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:47,080 Make sense? Taking a good. 237 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:50,000 Thing. And then turning it into a God 238 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:51,320 thing. That's what. 239 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,720 That's what the rich fool does. Like, this is a pretty familiar 240 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:00,520 parable, yeah. Yeah, you ever ask? 241 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:02,960 What did he do? Wrong. 242 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:08,720 I hit like, honestly, you read the parable and it's like, I 243 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:10,800 mean, that's just actually pretty standard American Dream 244 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,280 stuff. What the guy do wrong? 245 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:17,320 Well, here's the deal. It's not verse 16, right? 246 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:18,760 Look at verse 16. What do you see happening? 247 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:20,680 The land. This is, this guy's a farmer. 248 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,440 His land produces plentifully, so he's good at his work. 249 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:27,920 That's not a problem. It's good to be good at your 250 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:29,560 job. The Bible says whatever you, 251 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:32,560 whatever you put your hand to, do it with all your might. 252 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:37,320 So being good isn't the problem. So what's the problem? 253 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,440 What do you do wrong? Well, it's not even verse 18. 254 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:45,720 In verse 18, what to do? He tears down his smaller barns 255 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,360 and he builds bigger barns. Lots of godly people in the 256 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:52,640 Bible have big houses. That's there's nothing wrong 257 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,200 with that. So what does he do wrong? 258 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:04,280 And the answer is in verse 20. He says to his soul, Soul, 259 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,760 you've got everything you need now. 260 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,080 So you have ample goods laid up for many years. 261 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:17,280 Relax, eat, drink and be merry. Relax. 262 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,680 He finds ultimate comfort in his work and the fruit of his work, 263 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:24,440 not God. Eat, drink and be merry. 264 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,640 He finds ultimate joy in his work and the fruit of his work 265 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,320 rather than God. So here's the point, and here's 266 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:35,240 where the story goes sour. When the man looks at his work 267 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:40,560 and his wealth and says I have everything I need right here. 268 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,440 He loses his soul. Isn't that an implication that 269 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,680 Jesus's criticism where he's like, fool, tonight your soul 270 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:52,680 was required of you? What's the implication there? 271 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,200 The implication is that he lost his soul. 272 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:01,240 And this is This is why the devil is so passionate about 273 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:05,440 getting you to idolize something that's not God, because the 274 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:09,960 enemy knows that wherever idolatry is committed, people 275 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:14,440 lose their souls. This is why Satan loves 276 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,560 idolatry, because he knows that it will ultimately make you 277 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,000 forfeit your soul. So I've got a grid for you, Ben. 278 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,480 Go and throw up that grid. This grid, This can this can 279 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:23,880 apply to all of I'm sorry about the handwriting. 280 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:26,600 That's my bad. I'll walk you through it. 281 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,360 OK, but this grid it can apply to almost anything, but 282 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:31,520 especially true with your relationship with work. 283 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:35,400 What Satan desires to do is he will work day and night to keep 284 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,800 you away from the healthy center. 285 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,520 A healthy godly relationship with work is composed primarily 286 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:43,840 of two things right there. So if you look at that middle 287 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,560 graph right there, good work right above it. 288 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:49,160 It's composed of two separate categories. 289 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:51,480 The first is hard work. I don't know if you know this. 290 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:53,800 The Bible is pro hard work, right? 291 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:58,040 The Bible says whatever you I do work hardly on to the Lord. 292 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,520 You should sweat, you should work hard, you should become 293 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,599 excellent, but it needs to be combined with the second 294 00:17:04,599 --> 00:17:06,480 component. You see what the second 295 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,760 component is? It's hard work plus surrender. 296 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:17,359 So you work, you work hard, you give it your best, but you also 297 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,079 know how to surrender the outcomes to God. 298 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,040 And what that practically looks like is it means you don't spend 299 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,960 the rest of the night daydreaming about it, or 300 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,240 ignoring your family because you obsess over it, or ignoring your 301 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:30,720 friends because you obsess over it. 302 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,520 What you do is hard work plus surrender. 303 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:37,000 You work with a purpose, and then you open your hands and you 304 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:41,400 surrender the outcomes to God. That's a healthy relationship. 305 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,200 That's a healthy relationship with what Satan wants to do is 306 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:49,720 he loves extremes. He doesn't want you on the road. 307 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:51,800 He wants to. Push you into one of two 308 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:53,120 ditches. He delights in propelling 309 00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:56,880 believers towards laziness and idolatrous because it ruins 310 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:58,920 their witness in in the workplace. 311 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,080 What's laziness? Look over there. 312 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,880 That's on the left. Interestingly, laziness is 313 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,800 exhausting. Right it it feels like, Oh my 314 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:09,720 gosh. There's just no purpose and 315 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:11,880 meaning in life. So it's exhausting and what 316 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:13,960 laziness is. But that's actually next week's 317 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:15,000 sermon. So I'm not going to preach on 318 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:16,920 it. But it only has one of the two 319 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:21,720 components of healthy work. It's got surrender, open hands, 320 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:26,400 giving it all to God. But it's surrender minus hard 321 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,880 work. And I'm not going to preach on 322 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,880 this this morning, but some, some Christians will 323 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,120 spiritualize work so much that they justify their laziness. 324 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:39,520 I don't know if you've ever heard a Christian say I'm so 325 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,760 afraid of committing idolatry that I'm not even going to try 326 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,680 at work because I'm so spiritual. 327 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:53,600 That's a real temptation. If that's you repent of that and 328 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:55,520 then come back next Sunday for that sermon. 329 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,800 But if you look at if you look at the ditch on the right, you 330 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,080 have idolatry. What's What's idolatry? 331 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,200 Idolatry, like laziness only has one of the two components for 332 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,960 healthy work. Idolatry is hard work minus 333 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,600 surrender. The hard work is good, right? 334 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:16,200 You work. With a purpose, you work like 335 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,800 Jesus, you work heartily. But. 336 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,240 You're unable to surrender the outcomes, and so you end up 337 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,600 looking to your work for ultimate worth and value. 338 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,600 And because of that, you just can't open your hands and 339 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,040 surrender your work to God. It what does it do? 340 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:34,040 It keeps you up at night when things don't go perfectly. 341 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,240 You explode and implode. You're willing to do whatever 342 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,480 you can to climb the corporate ladder, even if it means denying 343 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,560 Jesus or destroying your spiritual walk over burnout or 344 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,440 controlling and manipulating your kids. 345 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:50,440 You end up practicing hard work minus surrender, and that is 346 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,120 idolatry when you get there, right? 347 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:56,840 To paraphrase and you know, one of the questions you have to ask 348 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:02,080 is. How does a, how does a Christian 349 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,640 who loves Jesus and is healthy end up in a place where they 350 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,800 have elevated their job to the place of a God? 351 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,360 And that's why I think the book of Exodus is so compelling, 352 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:15,560 right? The golden calf, they, they 353 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,240 build the golden calf because they freak out because, because 354 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,240 Moses is gone. And so we got to worship some 355 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:21,680 God. And so they build a golden calf 356 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,600 and Moses walks back and they're all worshipping the golden calf, 357 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,160 right? And as as postmodern people, we 358 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:28,840 tend to be like, how could they be so stupid? 359 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,200 How could they think that a golden calf that they built with 360 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,240 their own hands was worthy of their worship, was worthy of 361 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,640 being a God? And when Moses presses into 362 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,400 them, I find the answer they give so compelling. 363 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,080 Do you know the answer? Moses is like, what is this evil 364 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,840 you have done? And the peoples, they say he's 365 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:54,760 threw the gold in the fire and it came out like this, which is 366 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:56,800 crazy because it's like, no, that's. 367 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:02,680 How it feels though. You just take a good thing and 368 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:06,160 then all of a sudden it's like it hops out of nowhere. 369 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:09,360 How do you wind up here? To paraphrase CS Lewis and the 370 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:13,760 screw tape letters, the safest Rd. to hell is the gradual 1. 371 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,080 And so here are 4 strategies that the devil will use you to 372 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,840 trick you into going down the gradual Rd. of turning your work 373 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,440 into idolatry. I have one for the screen bond. 374 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,640 Well, here's the first one. The first technique the devil 375 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,960 will use to get you to idolize your job is the devil will 376 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:34,280 whisper your worth is in your work. 377 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,040 This is so important. The reason why it's so important 378 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,680 is because the devil, the devil's actually not afraid of 379 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,680 you saying that you believe in the Gospel. 380 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:51,440 He's not afraid of you saying that all of your worth comes 381 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,440 from the crucifixion of Jesus. What he's afraid of is you 382 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:59,160 believing it. So if he can get you saying, 383 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,800 hey, I believe the Gospel, but then really living your life as 384 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,640 though you're worth and work comes from your job. 385 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:08,800 It's like mission accomplished. Then then what Satan can do is 386 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,320 he can get you to believe that who you are is what you do, that 387 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,280 who you are is what you accomplish at work. 388 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,080 And then you find yourself craving promotions, craving 389 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:22,400 titles, craving admiration, and craving metrics even more than 390 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:26,920 you crave Jesus. The strategy or #2 The second 391 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,480 thing the devil will do is he'll convince you. 392 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:35,000 He'll convince you that you're serving God even when you're 393 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:39,560 just serving yourself. The enemy. 394 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:45,160 Twist language subtly, right? You end up, you end up referring 395 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:51,000 to exhaustion as faithfulness, bro, right. 396 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,400 You end up referring to your neglect of your family as 397 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:00,880 sacrifice for the Kingdom. Bro, just twists of language. 398 00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:04,800 But when your job crowds out time for prayer, rest, people or 399 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,760 family, you're no longer serving God. 400 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:10,120 You're serving an idol. That brings me to the third 401 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:12,600 strategy of the devil. And this is the foothold that if 402 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:16,160 I'm not careful personally, this is the one that the enemy will 403 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,280 use in my own life. The third thing the enemy might 404 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,560 do is is the devil will weaponize. 405 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:27,800 He will weaponize your fear of failure. 406 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:36,280 But if the if the devil can get you to be terrified, terrified 407 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:46,840 of being small or insignificant or forgotten or ordinary, then 408 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,000 he can stir your anxiety to the point. 409 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:55,800 That you confuse the pursuit of excellence over the presence of 410 00:23:55,800 --> 00:24:00,800 God. This is the thing that I really 411 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,520 struggle with. So like, you can do this as a 412 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:04,720 preacher. I don't know if you know this, 413 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:10,640 but even as a person handling the word of God, you can idolize 414 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,720 the work. Let me say it this. 415 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:17,480 Way this is true as a preacher. Biblically accurate sermons 416 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:23,560 filled with truth filled with truth, but. 417 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:28,880 Subtly crafted to impress people and make them think much of me. 418 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:35,160 Satan loves those sermons, even if they're filled with truth. 419 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:40,840 Satan's not afraid of truth as long as the truth is 420 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:47,880 self-serving. True sermons. 421 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,640 Ones that quote the Bible. Sermons that quote John Piper, 422 00:24:54,440 --> 00:25:00,440 but designed subtly by a secret motive to make people think 423 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,640 you're so great. God hates those sermons. 424 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,600 And it's it's, it's true not just for preachers, but also 425 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,760 whatever your work is right even doing. 426 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:13,600 Things with excellence. But subtly, because you want to 427 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,320 be seen as great. God hates those sermons. 428 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,360 And often time the thing he taps into is your fear of failure to 429 00:25:21,360 --> 00:25:24,800 whip you into an anxious frenzy to work yourself to death. 430 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,920 And here's the 4th strategy that the enemy uses. 431 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:35,080 The devil will also keep you just busy enough to never notice 432 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,240 your idolatry. Just busy enough. 433 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:43,040 Just busy enough that you've got no time to think, or no time to 434 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,400 ask deep questions to your community. 435 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,280 No space to examine your heart and its relationship with work. 436 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:55,320 The enemy wants to keep you just productive enough to feel useful 437 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,960 in just enough Christian language to make you feel 438 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:06,400 righteous. And so, I guess the question. 439 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,240 Here's the question I've been wrestling with all week. 440 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,760 Maybe, maybe you don't. Maybe you don't ask the same 441 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:13,200 question. Maybe this doesn't haunt you. 442 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,480 The question I've been wrestling with all week is I've been 443 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:16,800 preparing. This sermon is God. 444 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:20,160 Why? Why do? 445 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:22,520 You so passionately hate idolatry. 446 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:25,800 Have you ever noticed that? Like it's. 447 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,960 It's one of the 10 commandments. Thou shall have no other gods 448 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,800 before me. You read first, John. 449 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,680 It's the last sentence in the letter. 450 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,800 Little children flee, keep yourselves from idols. 451 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,560 Like what's what? What is with God's passion, his 452 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:47,400 hatred for idolatry. And the reason why I want to 453 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,560 press into this is because sometimes I get the impression, 454 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:52,800 OK, sometimes I get the impression that one of the 455 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:57,400 reasons why God hates idolatry is because he's a fun hater, 456 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,200 right? He's God's just anti passion. 457 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:08,240 He's anti joy, he's anti fun, he's a buzzkill. 458 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,840 And he doesn't want to see us get passionate about anything 459 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:14,680 besides religion, right? Do you ever feel that way? 460 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:17,920 So I was wrestling with that last night. 461 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,440 I was, I was walking around in the neighborhood last night, 462 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,960 just asking like Lord. Just reveal your heart. 463 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,720 To me, why? Why do you so passionately hate 464 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,720 idolatry? And I felt like the answer the 465 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,440 Lord gave me last night was so profound and so simple. 466 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,240 I think it was from the Lord. I I was walking around just 467 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:35,560 saying God. Why do you hate? 468 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,840 Idolatry so much. And the answer I sensed him and 469 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,080 pressed upon my heart was because I love the world so 470 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:50,600 much, right? His hatred of idolatry is his 471 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,920 love for the world. His love for the world is 472 00:27:54,120 --> 00:27:58,160 inextricably connected to his hatred of idolatry. 473 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:02,080 God knows better than anybody that idolatry eats the world 474 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,720 alive, right? Eats a lot. 475 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,000 Are you guys with me? I'm just going to talk. 476 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,000 I'm just going to talk honest, OK? 477 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,480 I'm just going to be totally honest about my own struggles 478 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,680 with idolatry. If you want to weaponize my 479 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:14,280 transparency against me, that's fine. 480 00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:16,920 I'm just going to say it and let the chips fall. 481 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:21,120 However, about 8 years ago, I planted this church and in the 482 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:24,160 beginning phases of it, I really like, I really struggled with. 483 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,200 There was a sense in which I was like, man, this is my dream job. 484 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,840 There was this other sense in which I really struggled with 485 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,640 transitioning from being a high school English teacher to being 486 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:34,640 a church planter. I want to tell you exactly what 487 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:36,400 it was. OK, but this was seven years 488 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:38,240 ago. OK, seven years ago. 489 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:40,200 So this is not like a veiled cry for help. 490 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:42,480 All right, I've worked through some of this. 491 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:44,280 I still have some work in front of me to go. 492 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,920 But about seven years ago when I planted the church, I was, this 493 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,280 is going to sound funny to you. I was shocked. 494 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:52,520 Maybe this is because I didn't really grow up in the church. 495 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:59,080 I I was shocked when I discovered pretty early in that. 496 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:03,800 Church people are harder to. Please than high school 497 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:09,200 students. I don't know if you know that. 498 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:13,400 They're. They're pickier in high school 499 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,040 students. And I, I really struggled with 500 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,840 that transition. And so I was unloading all of 501 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,280 this to my associate pastor at the time, Andrew Self. 502 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,200 And I, I remember it, a lot of it, it was just a lot of 503 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:24,840 immaturity. I just needed to get it off my 504 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,080 chest, right? And so I remember just unloading 505 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:30,720 onto poor Andrew, just unloading onto him, all of this insecurity 506 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,400 I was struggling with. I was like Andrew when I was a 507 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,760 high school teacher. There wasn't a single day that 508 00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:41,200 went by that some high school kid didn't tell me that I was 509 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,680 the best teacher in the whole wide world. 510 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:47,160 And I give my life to church planting and all I hear is the 511 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,360 opposite. I was like Andrew, I feel like 512 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:54,480 I'm giving my life to crafting these meals that people just 513 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,720 knit, pack and say I don't like it. 514 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,200 Did you, Nicole, did you listen to the John Piper sermon and all 515 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:01,680 that? It was. 516 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:08,120 Awesome. As opposed to mine, right? 517 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,960 Just I just struggled. I'd like, I struggled a lot with 518 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,600 that. I was like, Oh my gosh, all I 519 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:17,400 seem to do is give people a reason to complain. 520 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,560 But Andrew, that those high schooler kids, they, they treat, 521 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,360 they treated me so much better than church people do. 522 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,240 All church people do is, is whine. 523 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:28,000 I was like, I swear, dude, I'm going to die because of a lack 524 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:29,640 of encouragement. I was very dramatic. 525 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,320 I hear that now. I'm still a little dramatic 526 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:45,440 because then I said the line. I said I said, bro, if our 527 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:52,360 church doesn't encourage me, I will work myself to death to 528 00:30:52,400 --> 00:31:00,790 earn it. And I. 529 00:31:04,550 --> 00:31:08,000 Remember what Andrew said to me? I'm not going to quote it 530 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:12,560 perfectly, but he looked at me and he said, bro, that's the 531 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:16,960 scariest thing I've ever heard you say, except he was from 532 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,920 Texas. So bro, scariest thing you ever 533 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:32,120 said? I if I don't get it, I will work 534 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:37,720 myself to death to earn it. That's why God hates idolatry. 535 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,280 He hates idolatry because he knows that idolatry all it 536 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,440 always has collateral damage. Always. 537 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,200 I will work myself to death to earn it. 538 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,400 That inner need to. Prove myself and to work in 539 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,840 order to earn love. You know who gets hurt by that? 540 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:02,680 Everybody. You, the church. 541 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,600 The pastors who hurt their church the most are the ones who 542 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,200 make the church into an idol every time. 543 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,720 It puts an unbearable weight on the church's shoulders. 544 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,640 No church should be in a position where they feel like 545 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,640 they've got to constantly praise their pastor so that he feels 546 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,440 like they're the best pastor in the world. 547 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,280 No church can. Carry that weight. 548 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,480 It's too heavy. It's too heavy. 549 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:31,080 You don't need that on your shoulders. 550 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,800 It hurts that. You know who else it hurts? 551 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,200 My family, right? There's always something to say 552 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,680 yes to in pastoral ministry. Some of them need yeses. 553 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,640 But there are so many things to say yes to in pastoral ministry 554 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,400 that it will, if I'm not careful, give me very religious 555 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:53,440 sounding reasons to say no to my kids for their whole childhood. 556 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,200 And so if I just give myself over to the idol of church 557 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:02,960 planting, my kids will grow up functionally fatherless like 558 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:04,040 Tim. Tim Keller. 559 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:08,560 This Keller said this when Keller planted a church in New 560 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:12,560 York City. He's he said to his wife. 561 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:15,400 I'll see you in three years, babe. 562 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,080 That's what idolatry does. It it hurts. 563 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:24,680 Everybody you know, who else gets hurt by that idolatry if 564 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,120 the Lord doesn't deal with it? Me. 565 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,880 Because I lose my own soul. If I go down that road, it's 566 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,280 gone. Like if I just, if I just turn 567 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:42,960 my entire spiritual walk with Jesus into a public performance 568 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:48,520 for church people to try to gain some praise from people who are 569 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,040 probably just going to leave statistically in two to three 570 00:33:51,040 --> 00:34:00,120 years anyways, I lose my soul. And the irony of it, though, and 571 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,120 again, you, you're welcome to judge me if you want. 572 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,120 It's fine. If I were you, I would be using 573 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,239 this story about pastoral ministry as a window into your 574 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:09,480 own relationship with work, though. 575 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:15,239 Because here's the irony of it. The irony of it is when I said 576 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:19,639 that, when I said I will work myself to death to earn it, you 577 00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:24,120 know how it sounded to me? It sounded heroic, right? 578 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:28,560 Like it sounded brave, and it sounded like something somebody 579 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,840 would write in a book about Charles Spurgeon or something. 580 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,560 It sounded brave. How did it sound to Andrew? 581 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,800 Terrifying. Scary. 582 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:41,840 I needed Andrew to say to me, that's the scariest thing I've 583 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:43,480 ever heard you say. And look, we're getting 584 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:44,760 practical. We're getting really close to my 585 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:47,040 practical exhortation for the morning, but there's still just 586 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:48,280 a little bit of leg work to be done. 587 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:52,679 Then we'll get around to it. But the point is that it's very 588 00:34:52,679 --> 00:34:58,080 hard to see your own idolatry and super easy to see other 589 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:01,800 people's idolatry. Have you ever noticed that? 590 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,400 Here's to quote Paul Tripp. You guys ready for this? 591 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,840 This is such a great quote. Paul Tripp says, quote, when it 592 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:14,480 comes to our own sin, we're lawyers. 593 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:18,280 When it comes to the sins of others, we're judges. 594 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:25,280 Does that one get an Amen? Like we're really good, Like 595 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,800 we're really good lawyers when it comes to our own sin? 596 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:30,720 Well, here's why. This is just the right. 597 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:34,080 But when it comes to the sins of others, we're extraordinary 598 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,240 judges. And so the reality of it is, as 599 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:39,880 I'm pushing into this this morning and I'm walking you 600 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:42,640 through some of my own experiences with idolatry, the 601 00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,080 truth of the matter is, no matter how much clarity I'll 602 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:48,320 preach with, the truth of the matter is you're probably just 603 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:52,200 still blind to your own idolatry, which is 604 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,480 extraordinarily important to see, right? 605 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:55,760 Because the rich. Fool. 606 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:04,280 The the dude that Jesus called a fool, he probably he probably 607 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:09,160 just viewed his idolatry as wisely securing the future. 608 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:16,440 It's just wise, right? My my own idolatry. 609 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:20,920 I viewed it as a heroic, hard working wrestler turned church 610 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:25,400 planter rather than as idolatry. We're lawyers for our own idols 611 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,320 and we're judges for the idols of others. 612 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:29,720 And here's why I keep pressing into this is the reason why is 613 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:32,080 because I had this list of four or five different ways to 614 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,720 identify if your work or your job or your calling has become 615 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:37,600 an idol. And I ditched those four or five 616 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:39,840 reasons. And the reason why I ditched 617 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,080 those four or five is because all of us would have seen that 618 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,400 list, all of us. And we would have thought, I 619 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,760 know who needs to hear this. We would have, we would have 620 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,040 said that. And then we would have remained 621 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:55,080 blind to what we're blind to. And so the practical application 622 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:58,080 for this morning, it just requires, it requires more of a 623 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,360 spine than that. It, it requires more courage 624 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,440 than looking at bulls and points and saying, I think Cole is 625 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,840 number 2 and #3 no, bro, I'm all four probably. 626 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:12,200 So here's the practical exhortation. 627 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:14,200 And it's going to require some guts. 628 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:15,560 And you're going to need to trust Jesus. 629 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:19,760 What I want you to do this week is I want to, I want you to ask 630 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:25,100 one Co worker doesn't even need to be a Christian, just a Co 631 00:37:25,100 --> 00:37:29,400 worker you trust. Or if you're a homemaker, ask. 632 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:35,920 Ask your spouse or your kid somebody who's got a window into 633 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:41,360 your vocation and calling. Ask them the question, Do you 634 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:45,480 think that I care too much or too little about my work and 635 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:52,080 why? Doesn't that make you feel 636 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:54,880 nervous? Do it. 637 00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:04,440 And, and if the person says too much, you care about work too 638 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:06,960 much, you don't. You're not allowed to huff and 639 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:12,680 puff and justify yourself. If they say too little, then 640 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,080 make sure you come back next Sunday for our sermon about work 641 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:23,600 and laziness. Look, I also have good news for. 642 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:28,080 You this morning. You want it. 643 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:34,600 Here's the gospel Jesus wants to save you from your idolatry. 644 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:39,000 He wants to save you from your idolatry. 645 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,320 Work is a great way to express love. 646 00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:47,720 It's a terrible way to earn love and so if you turn your work 647 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:51,920 into an idol, then life will become a concentration camp. 648 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,000 Literally. I don't like history buffs. 649 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,920 I don't know if you know this, but you can, you can Google 650 00:38:57,920 --> 00:38:58,880 this. You can look it up. 651 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,560 In Auschwitz, the famous concentration camp during Nazi 652 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:07,240 Germany, the main entryway to the concentration camp had this 653 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:14,440 gigantic arching entryway, and on the arch were these massive 654 00:39:14,520 --> 00:39:17,200 iron letters that spelled out a motto. 655 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:22,200 The first thing, the first thing Hitler wanted concentration camp 656 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:26,240 prisoners to see when they went into the concentration camp. 657 00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:31,960 Do you know what the motto was? Giant iron letters. 658 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:38,120 Nazi Germany, They would have been walking in and in German 659 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:43,880 language, the sign said. Work will set you free. 660 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:51,880 Isn't that haunting? Work will set you free. 661 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:54,840 Why did Hitler want his concentration camp prisoners to 662 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,080 believe the motto? Work sets you free. 663 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,800 Because he knew psychological warfare. 664 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:06,960 He knew linguistic warfare. And he knew that if he could get 665 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,640 the prisoners to make an idol out of working there, he could 666 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:16,560 get them to forfeit their soul and dehumanize themselves and 667 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:20,600 stop viewing themselves as images of God worthy of love and 668 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,240 respect. He knew that. 669 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:29,360 And the scary thing to me as a pastor is that there are whole 670 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,920 denominations of Christianity and pastors out there who are 671 00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:35,200 preaching the same gospel as Nazi Germany. 672 00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:40,600 That work will set you free, that you can be justified by 673 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,960 your work, that you can earn God's love because of your work. 674 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:47,200 It's a false gospel. So let me say it straight. 675 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,960 Work doesn't set you free. Only Jesus sets you free. 676 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:55,960 Amen. Only Jesus sets you free. 677 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,720 That's the gospel. Jesus was crucified to forgive 678 00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:03,720 you from all of your sins, and by grace, through faith in Him, 679 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:06,440 you are. You are covered in His 680 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:09,600 righteousness and you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and you 681 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:13,680 are imbued with ultimate worth and value and meaning and you're 682 00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:16,880 guaranteed a place in the resurrection to live in the joy 683 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:20,160 of the Lord forever. Your job, on the other hand, 684 00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:23,040 it's a good gift from God, but it's going to replace you the 685 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:28,720 day after you retire. Don't put it on the throne where 686 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:32,760 only God deserves to be. Your work does not love you like 687 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:36,800 Jesus does. Only Jesus deserves that spot. 688 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:41,520 Only Jesus deserves your praise. Only Jesus deserves your glory. 689 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:43,800 Only Jesus deserves your worship. 690 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:47,080 Only Jesus deserves ultimate worth and value. 691 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:48,800 Because only Jesus sets you free. 692 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:51,960 And when you believe that, Jesus sets you free. 693 00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:56,760 And Christ alone, like faith in the gospel alone, can set me 694 00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:00,640 free. Once you get there, then you 695 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,040 don't need to work in order to earn love anymore. 696 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:04,920 You can just work in order to express. 697 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:15,980 Love, which is so healthy. If I don't get, if I don't get 698 00:42:15,980 --> 00:42:21,580 it from my church, If I don't get, if I don't get the 699 00:42:21,580 --> 00:42:27,980 promotion, If I don't get the positive feedback. 700 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,120 I don't get encouragement from the church. 701 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,720 I will work myself to death to earn it. 702 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:43,360 When I think back to saying that seven years ago and the 703 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:48,600 headspace and spiritual space I was in when I said that, I like, 704 00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:58,880 I just, I just think, fool, you fool, just like God says to the 705 00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:00,200 rich. Fool, fool. 706 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:03,640 Right. If I were to go back in time and 707 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:07,440 talk to myself and encourage myself seven years ago, I don't 708 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:10,440 know what I would say. I think, I think I would say 709 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:14,720 something to the effect of a young man. 710 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:23,360 You're going to want to take a seat, I think I would say. 711 00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:39,720 I'm sorry that you wanted church planting to be more honestly. 712 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,440 I'm sorry that it didn't fulfill your heart and your heart's 713 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:51,760 desires honestly. But with time and growth, you'll 714 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,800 become a good pastor. But this thing that you feel 715 00:43:54,920 --> 00:44:01,920 inside of your soul? This thing that you feel, this 716 00:44:02,280 --> 00:44:09,880 lack of encouragement that you'll do anything to earn, your 717 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:11,520 church isn't. Doing this to you. 718 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:16,680 They are encouraging you, you just can't hear it. 719 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:26,200 They're not doing this. To you, God is God's doing this 720 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:28,600 to you. God's got you in this place. 721 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:35,240 Because he knows. He knows that this church plant 722 00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:38,120 can't give you what only God can. 723 00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:48,480 And God loves you so much. He loves you so much that He 724 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:54,000 will keep you perpetually dissatisfied in life and in 725 00:44:54,000 --> 00:45:02,200 work, just above drowning but just below flying too high. 726 00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:06,280 That space? God loves you so much that He 727 00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:12,920 will keep you right there until you learn to go to God for what 728 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:18,600 only God can give you. Don't. 729 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:20,920 Kick the dog because it's not laying X. 730 00:45:24,720 --> 00:45:26,880 Don't get mad at the water balloon because you threw it 731 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:29,680 into the well and it didn't fill the whole thing. 732 00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:33,800 It can't do that for you, only God can. 733 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:38,720 So I guess my question is, do you find work dissatisfying? 734 00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:45,160 Did you think it would be more? Are you shocked at how all of 735 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:48,560 your coworkers and bosses don't see how special you are? 736 00:45:50,240 --> 00:45:51,800 Were you hoping for more from your job? 737 00:45:53,840 --> 00:46:01,400 Come to Jesus and work hard and then surrender. 738 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:10,200 Work hard and then just let go. Let go. 739 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,600 Heavenly Father, I pray that you would give us the power to do 740 00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:18,040 that. I can't. 741 00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:21,720 I have. I have noticed, Lord, that I 742 00:46:21,720 --> 00:46:27,680 can't get myself to repent of an idol like I can't, Lord, I can't 743 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:30,440 force myself to let go of something I'm holding too 744 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:37,720 tightly by just saying to myself, let go, Lord, the only 745 00:46:37,720 --> 00:46:41,040 thing that I have found sufficient to mortify idols 746 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:46,240 isn't to try to let go. It's to look up and be 747 00:46:46,240 --> 00:46:50,600 captivated by the beauty and glory of the gospel and by 748 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:58,880 gazing at your beauty and by seeing your glory, that actually 749 00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:06,400 empowers me to weaken my grip, unclench my fist, and then just 750 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,160 let go. And so, Lord, I pray for the 751 00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:12,960 individuals in our church who are making an idol out of their 752 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:15,120 work, or for that matter, an idol out of anything. 753 00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:21,320 May they see that there is power in the name of Jesus. 754 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:24,240 And today he wants to break every chain. 755 00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:30,720 He wants to break chains so that people feel freedom, joy, and 756 00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:34,040 satisfaction in the Lord Jesus. And so would you do, Lord? 757 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:35,400 Would you do that to us this morning? 758 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,280 Would you help us let go? It's in the precious name of 759 00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:39,800 Jesus that all God's people prayed. 760 00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:42,840 Amen. Let's stand and let's worship 761 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:43,520 this God together.